The American Conservative » Here’s Lookin’ at You: Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart, Stefan Kanfer, Knopf, 304 pages
He played low-lifes, petty crooks, dodgy detectives, vigilantes, and other denizens of society’s fringe. In 27 films his characters met violent deaths. He might seem an unlikely contender for most honored, most imitated actor of the 20th century. But 50 years after his death, Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957) topped the American Film Institute’s ranking of male film legends.
Picture the indelible Bogart visage: lined, craggy, with heavy-lidded eyes, furrowed brow, overlarge teeth that rarely showed in a smile, and a pronounced scar above the lip that produced a slight lisp, which Bogart masked by delivering lines with a muted, almost musical inflection. His frame was wiry, his voice gruff, shoulders often stooped. Compared to present-day A-listers like golden boy Brad Pitt or charming womanizer George Clooney, Bogart might seem downright unappealing.
But he had guts. He didn’t merely act toughness; he embodied it, without a shred of vanity. The play of shadow across that unattractive face conveyed a grim nobility, a compelling depth that led one female co-star to wonder, “How can a man so ugly be so handsome?”